Sentence examples for ecclesiastical communities from inspiring English sources

Modernity brought a decline in the direct institutional role of the churches in society, but the rise of democracy encouraged church leaders to assume an advisory capacity in the shaping of public policy, seeking to guide not only the members of their own ecclesiastical communities but also the whole body politic.

Select early medieval period (400 1100 CE) Irish people pursued lifestyles of ascetic devotion leading to the establishment of ecclesiastical communities on small islands along Ireland's western coastline.

Its religious traditions began in the 6th century, when St. Kenneth is believed to have formed a Celtic ecclesiastical community.

The underlying sacramental theology of the Orthodox church is based, however, on the notion that the ecclesiastical community is the unique mystērion, of which the various sacraments are the normal expressions.

The church interprets each sacramental act as a prayer of the entire ecclesiastical community, led by the bishop or his representative, and as God's response, based upon Christ's promise to send the Holy Spirit upon the church.

Their ritual sacrifice excluded them from certain parts of the Christian community (ecclesiastical writers tended to ignore them, for example ) but these people nonetheless believed themselves to be Christian and were recognized by others as Christians.

When universities were first created in medieval times, they were mainly communities of ecclesiastical scholars.

All forms of ecclesiastical, political, and social communities of Christianity are founded on this basic idea of the fellowship of believers as the body of Christ.

As a writer and teacher he led his fellow citizens from the confines of feudal and ecclesiastical authority into a community founded on shared awareness and individual initiative.

By the early 7th century, the typical Byzantine city, viewed from without, actually or potentially resembled a fortress; viewed from within, it was essentially a religious community under ecclesiastical leadership.

For centuries, the commandment "thou shalt not masturbate" which became a paradoxical fusion between the progressive spirit of the Enlightenment and conservative ecclesiastical views, held the community morally in its thrall.